MMA Irvin VS. Evans - Confirmed

by MMAjunkie.com Staff [mmajunkie-staff] on Apr 23, 2008 at 11:37 am in - News - With Chuck Liddell scratched from the event due to a torn ligament, James Irvin (14-4 MMA, 4-3 UFC) will instead step in to fight Rashad Evans (11-0-1 MMA, 6-0-1 UFC) at UFC 85, an event that takes place June 7 at the O2 Arena in London.

MMAWeekly.com first confirmed the bout with both fighters' camps on Tuesday.

Irvin, 29, scored one of the biggest victories of his career at UFC Fight Night 13 earlier this month. There, Irvin tied a UFC record by knocking out Houston Alexander with a Superman punch just eight seconds into the fight.

The hard-hitting Californian has now won three of his past four fights -- all in the UFC. One of those victories included a win via disqualification after Luis Arthur Cane tagged him with an illegal knee. Cane had been dominating the UFC 79 fight up until then.

Evans was actually a UFC 85 replacement for an injured Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. "The Ultimate Fighter 2" winner's only blemish on an otherwise perfect record is a draw to Tito Ortiz at UFC 73. However, Evans bounced back for a split-decision victory over co-headliner Michael Bisping at UFC 78 in November.

During Monday's announcement of Liddell's injury, the UFC promised to improve the card in several ways. One of those "improvements" appears to be a middleweight bout between Chris Leben (18-4 MMA, 8-3 UFC) and Bisping (15-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC), which could be officially added to the card in the next few days.

Knee'd the living fuck out of him? It was slightly glancing. Cane started to throw the knee, realized it would be illegal and tried to stop but was too late and he could only greatly slow it down. This was followed by 5 minutes of Irvin acting like he could stand on his own power

Knee'd the living fuck out of him? It was slightly glancing. Cane started to throw the knee, realized it would be illegal and tried to stop but was too late and he could only greatly slow it down. This was followed by 5 minutes of Irvin acting like he could stand on his own power

UFC 85 from the O2 Arena in London, England, on June 7, will be a pay-per-view (PPV) event, according to the most recent print edition of the Wrestling Observer newsletter. Dave Meltzer reports that he has received confirmation from the organization, which contradicts a recent statement from Rashad Evans that indicated it would air for free on SpikeTV.

Look for UFC 85 to be marketed heavily with a 10 p.m. ET PPV start time, which will be on tape delay, and the LIVE broadcast to be available earlier on Saturday afternoon.

That’s how the last few UFC shows abroad have worked, anyway.

UFC 85 also features that heavyweight showdown between Fabricio Werdum and Brandon Vera, as well as a dynamite welterweight match up between Mike Swick and Marcus Davis.

I wouldn't say he kneed the fuck out of him but you can clearly see in the view at the end that he hit him squarely on the top of the cheek and the impact on his head as he did it. Irvin's a tough dude man and I doubt he would fake being unable to fight if he couldn't